If you look at how much time you spend doing
what you do – and if you keep a log – you might
be surprised at what you discover.
First, you might discover that although you say you
don’t have any time, you found time for tee-vee,
gossip, fault-finding, idle-chatter and so on.
Second, if you add the amount of time spent doing
things unrelated to furthering your success, and you
multiply it by 7 – then again by 52 – you’ll come up
with an astonishing figure.
For example, if you spend two hours a day going on
discussion boards on the Internet to put up posts for
all to read – this same amount of time could have
been invested in writing a book.
Or, let’s say you watch tee-vee for two hours per
day. That’s 14 hours a week or 728 hours per
year. Said even better, those two hours end up
being 30.33 days. Not 8-hour days either. 24-hour
days.
One of the things I work on doing each day is sending
something positive and encouraging for others to read.
I do this two ways. The first is direct communication with
people I coach or those whom I know. Another way is via
my email lists.
Sending words of praise and encouragement to others comes
back multiplied. The more good energy you give to others, the
more you receive in return – even if no one says a word of praise
back to you.
One of the great things about taking time to praise others, as well
as yourself, is that it increases everyone’s energy – giving you
more oomph to put into your day. On the other hand, criticism
usually has the opposite effect – and because much of the time it is
completely ignored – the person criticizing wasted his time.
Over the past couple days a great many readers of this email sent
words of praise for the message sent on Tuesday, entitled, “How
Nothing Can Stop You.”
Then yesterday, a lady who says she’s writing a book about how
Psycho-Cybernetics has changed her life, sent me an email telling
me how much she hates my emails, how they’re all about me, me, me
and offer nothing of value to anyone.
Very funny.
One of the key principles of Psycho-Cybernetics is that you stop
criticizing yourself and others. It’s a tough rule to live by. I fail at
it more than I care to admit. Yet when I do I realize how much time
I just wasted – and how the criticism will almost always have zero
positive effect on the future.
This is why I implemented my “No Whining” rule some time ago.
When you don’t whine, you’re in a state of gratitude.
Naturally there are times when you need to speak up and be heard;
when there is an injustice being done to you and you need to put an
end to it. This, however, is not to be confused with time-wasting
criticism and condemnation of others. It is not to be confused with
whining. Evenso, it’s a good idea to know when to put a lid on the
talk about an injustice.
The other day a member of my MasterMind wrote to tell me how
his former business partner did a lot of things to harm him. He
was understandably upset about it. Evenso, in order for me to
coach him, he needs to deal with the legal matters in one room
and the regrowing of his business in another. I’m not someone
who can legally advise him, so my advice was simple:
“Time to rise from the ashes, my friend. From devastation to liberation
to capitalization.”
He got the message and thanked me for refocusing his attention.
Another member wrote to tell me how well his business did last month,
but it was mixed with great fear of the good not lasting, concern about
all the bills he has to pay, and so on. He spoke of his embarrassment in
telling me these things.
I wrote the following to him:
“All is good here. Including the embarrassment.
When you have a bill to pay, the key is not so much the inhale and exhale,
but that you say, “Hey, I’m thankful I have the money to pay it.” You think
this thought while you exhale and inhale.
This puts things in perspective as your brain knows what it is like to have bills
and no money to pay them.
What you did last month is superb. It’s going to keep getting better. Having 6K
above expenses is very, very good. Far, far better than scrambling to only pay
the bills and being left with your ass hanging.”
See what is going on in the above. The man has his best month ever – but
in spite of this, instead of being grateful, he goes into fear about it not
lasting – or dread that he still has to pay the bills. This type of thinking is
a waste of time – and it harms the success process that has begun. That’s
why I refocused this man’s attention on being thankful he has the dough to
pay the bills.
I remember the day when my wife and I went to the bank together to get
a cashier’s check to pay our taxes. The teller looked at my wife and said,
“Ohhhh, I want to cry.”
I smiled and said, “For what.”
Then I turned to my wife and said, “You and I both know what it’s like to get
the tax bill and not have the money to pay it. Let’s be grateful we have it and
not go into dread. That will accomplish nothing and will stop the flow.”
She agreed and after we sent the check both of us noted how good it felt.
This was a big change for us. Prior to that we’d hang onto the dough as
long as we could, dreading having to pay our taxes.
I observed long ago that those who dread paying their taxes have a very
difficult time increasing their income. When I lived in California I even heard
people say how they’d like to earn more income, but if they did they’d have
to pay more taxes.
Helllloooooo.
The moral of today’s message is simple. Look at what you do
to waste time … as well as energy. Look at what you’re doing
to block the flow – then go back to doing what you were doing
to get IN FLOW.
Best,
P.S. Several of you wrote in yesterday to comment on Bruce Lee’s written
goal. Your comments were write on – yet there’s more to be discussed on
this matter, and I’ll cover it in this month’s Psycho-Cybernetics Success
Group offering – go to http://www.psycho-cybernetics.com/success_group.html
and become a part of it.